How to Configure Apache on Linux Server – (Step-by-Step Guide 2026)

To configure Apache on a Linux server in 2026, install the Apache package (apache2/httpd), start and enable the service, allow firewall ports 80/443, create a document root, add a virtual host, enable SSL with Let’s Encrypt, and apply performance and security tuning. Follow this step-by-step guide for Ubuntu/Debian and RHEL-based systems.

Configuring Apache on a Linux server is straightforward once you know the layout and best practices. In this guide, I’ll show you how to configure Apache on Linux server distributions like Ubuntu 24.04/22.04 and Rocky/AlmaLinux 9, including virtual hosts, free SSL, PHP-FPM, performance tuning, and security hardening that align with 2026 best practices.

What You’ll Need

• Linux server (Ubuntu 24.04/22.04, Debian 12, Rocky/AlmaLinux 9, RHEL 9)
• Root or sudo access
• Registered domain pointing to your server’s public IP (A/AAAA record)
• Open ports: 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS)
• Optional: PHP-FPM, MySQL/MariaDB for dynamic apps (WordPress, etc.)

Step 1: Update the Server and Install Apache

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install apache2
apache2 -v

Rocky/AlmaLinux/RHEL

sudo dnf -y update
sudo dnf -y install httpd
httpd -v

You should see Apache HTTP Server 2.4.x, which uses the performant “event” MPM by default on most modern distros.

Step 2: Start, Enable, and Open the Firewall

# Start and enable
sudo systemctl enable --now apache2    # Ubuntu/Debian
sudo systemctl enable --now httpd      # RHEL/Rocky/Alma

# Firewall (choose the tool your distro uses)
# UFW (Ubuntu)
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow "Apache Full"           # 80,443
sudo ufw enable

# firewalld (RHEL family)
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Visit http://your_server_ip to confirm the default Apache page loads.

Step 3: Know the Apache File Layout

• Ubuntu/Debian: configs in /etc/apache2/ with sites-available, sites-enabled, mods-available, mods-enabled
• RHEL/Rocky/Alma: main config /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf, include directory /etc/httpd/conf.d/, modules in /etc/httpd/modules
• Document roots usually /var/www/
• Logs: /var/log/apache2/ (Debian) or /var/log/httpd/ (RHEL)

Step 4: Create a Document Root and Permissions

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/example.com/public_html
echo "<h1>Apache is working for example.com</h1>" | sudo tee /var/www/example.com/public_html/index.html

# Ownership: use your Linux user (replace $USER) and www-data/apache as needed
# Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo chown -R $USER:www-data /var/www/example.com
# RHEL family (group is 'apache'):
sudo chown -R $USER:apache /var/www/example.com

sudo find /var/www/example.com -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find /var/www/example.com -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

If SELinux is enforcing (RHEL family), label the content directory:

sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_content_t "/var/www/example.com(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /var/www/example.com

Step 5: Create a Name-Based Virtual Host (HTTP)

Ubuntu/Debian vHost

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example.com_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/example.com_access.log combined

    <Directory /var/www/example.com/public_html>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

sudo a2ensite example.com.conf
sudo a2enmod rewrite headers
sudo apache2ctl configtest
sudo systemctl reload apache2

RHEL/Rocky/Alma vHost

sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/example.com.conf

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias www.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html

    ErrorLog logs/example.com_error.log
    CustomLog logs/example.com_access.log combined

    <Directory /var/www/example.com/public_html>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

sudo httpd -t
sudo systemctl reload httpd

Point your domain’s A record to the server IP. Browsing http://example.com should show your index page.

Step 6: Enable HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt (Free SSL)

Use Certbot’s Apache plugin to automatically issue and install SSL certificates, plus set up HTTP→HTTPS redirects.

Ubuntu/Debian (Certbot)

sudo apt -y install certbot python3-certbot-apache
sudo certbot --apache -d example.com -d www.example.com
# Auto-renew check
sudo systemctl status certbot.timer
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

RHEL/Rocky/Alma (Certbot)

sudo dnf -y install certbot python3-certbot-apache
sudo certbot --apache -d example.com -d www.example.com
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Certbot will configure your SSL vHost with strong defaults and set up automatic renewals. For HTTP/2, ensure the http2 module is enabled.

Step 7: Enable Essential Modules and HTTP/2

• mod_rewrite: pretty URLs and redirects
• mod_headers: security and caching headers
• mod_http2: HTTP/2 for faster parallelization
• Compression: mod_deflate or mod_brotli (if available)

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo a2enmod http2 deflate headers rewrite ssl
# Optional (if available): sudo a2enmod brotli
sudo apache2ctl configtest && sudo systemctl reload apache2

# RHEL family
sudo sed -i 's/^#LoadModule http2_module/LoadModule http2_module/' /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-base.conf 2>/dev/null || true
echo "Protocols h2 h2c http/1.1" | sudo tee /etc/httpd/conf.d/http2.conf
sudo httpd -t && sudo systemctl reload httpd

Note: For HTTP/3 in 2026, most teams use a CDN or a reverse proxy with QUIC (e.g., Nginx/HAProxy) in front of Apache. Apache’s HTTP/2 remains stable and widely deployed.

Step 8: Configure PHP-FPM (Optional for Dynamic Sites)

Install PHP-FPM

# Ubuntu/Debian (PHP 8.x)
sudo apt -y install php-fpm php-mysql
# RHEL family
sudo dnf -y install php php-fpm php-mysqlnd
sudo systemctl enable --now php-fpm

Enable Proxy to PHP-FPM

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo a2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif
sudo a2enconf php*-fpm
sudo systemctl reload apache2

# RHEL family: add to vHost or conf.d/php-fpm.conf
sudo nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/php-fpm.conf

<FilesMatch \.php$>
    SetHandler "proxy:unix:/run/php-fpm/www.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
</FilesMatch>

sudo httpd -t && sudo systemctl reload httpd

Place a phpinfo() test file in the document root to verify PHP is served via FPM. Remove the file after testing.

Step 9: Performance Tuning for 2026

• Keep the Event MPM (default). Avoid prefork unless required by legacy modules.
• Tune MaxRequestWorkers based on RAM/CPU and site workload.
• Enable compression (Brotli or Deflate) and caching headers.
• Use HTTP/2 and persistent connections.
• Serve static assets from a CDN for global speed.

# Example MPM Event tuning snippet
# Ubuntu/Debian: /etc/apache2/mods-available/mpm_event.conf
# RHEL: /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-mpm.conf or conf.d/mpm_event.conf
<IfModule mpm_event_module>
   StartServers             2
   ServerLimit              32
   ThreadsPerChild          64
   ThreadLimit              128
   MaxRequestWorkers        2048
   MaxConnectionsPerChild   10000
</IfModule>

# Caching and compression example (add inside vHost or global)
Header always set X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
Header always set X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN"
Header always set Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin"

# Static asset caching
<FilesMatch "\.(ico|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|css|js|woff2?)$">
  Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000, immutable"
</FilesMatch>

# Deflate compression
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain text/html text/css application/javascript application/json image/svg+xml

Step 10: Security Hardening

• Hide version info: ServerTokens Prod and ServerSignature Off
• Principle of least privilege for files/dirs; avoid 777 permissions
• Enable SELinux/AppArmor policies properly
• Install a WAF like ModSecurity with OWASP CRS
• Rate limit with mod_evasive or use a CDN WAF
• Use strong TLS (TLSv1.2/1.3) and modern ciphers

# Global security (Ubuntu: /etc/apache2/conf-available/security.conf)
# (RHEL: /etc/httpd/conf.d/security.conf)
ServerTokens Prod
ServerSignature Off
TraceEnable Off

# Limit methods (example)
<LimitExcept GET POST HEAD>
  Require all denied
</LimitExcept>

# ModSecurity (example install)
# Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt -y install libapache2-mod-security2
sudo a2enmod security2
# RHEL family:
sudo dnf -y install mod_security
# Add OWASP CRS and restart Apache (follow CRS docs)

Step 11: Logs, Monitoring, and Maintenance

• Config test: apache2ctl -t (Debian) or httpd -t (RHEL)
• Service: systemctl status apache2|httpd
• Logs: access/error logs in /var/log/apache2 or /var/log/httpd
• Journal: journalctl -u apache2 -f or journalctl -u httpd -f
• Log rotation: handled by logrotate; verify /etc/logrotate.d/apache2|httpd

# Quick checks
apache2ctl -S    # Debian: vHosts overview
httpd -S         # RHEL
apache2ctl -M    # Loaded modules
httpd -M

Troubleshooting: Common Apache Errors

• 403 Forbidden: wrong permissions or missing Require all granted; on RHEL, fix SELinux contexts.
• 404 Not Found: document root or vHost mismatch; check apache2ctl -S.
• Port already in use: stop conflicting service or change Listen ports.
• AH00558 (ServerName): set a global ServerName in main config to silence the warning.
• Let’s Encrypt failure: confirm DNS A/AAAA records point to your server and port 80 is open.

When to Choose Managed Hosting (Save Time and Risk)

If you’d rather not handle SSL renewals, tuning, and security patches yourself, a managed plan is safer. At YouStable, our Linux experts pre-optimize Apache (HTTP/2, PHP-FPM, caching, WAF) and monitor 24×7, so you can focus on your site or app while we keep your stack fast, secure, and up-to-date.

Final Checklist

• Installed Apache and opened firewall ports 80/443
• Configured a document root and correct permissions
• Created virtual hosts for your domains
• Issued Let’s Encrypt SSL and forced HTTPS
• Enabled HTTP/2, compression, caching headers
• Hardened security (tokens, WAF, least privilege)
• Tuned MPM event and verified logs/monitoring

FAQs: Configure Apache on Linux Server (2026)

With the steps above, you can confidently configure Apache on Linux server environments, deploy secure virtual hosts with free SSL, and keep performance high. Bookmark this guide for 2026 best practices and updates.